All Things Pretty, Part Two (Pretty #3.5)(9)
Author: M. Leighton

I cross my arms over my chest, letting a smile play across my face. “So that’s your answer then?  To get rid of us?  To kill a woman, a kid and a cop?  And you think that’ll make things better for you?”  I laugh, as boisterously as I can.  “What you don’t know, ass monkey, is that this shit’s coming down.  Your whole crew is busted.  It’s just a matter of time.  Of course, a better, more orderly take-down was in the works, but it ain’t no thing.  A few minutes won’t matter.  The end result is the same.  You dicklovers.  In jail.  For a long, long time.  Of course, you can make it even worse if you really wanna.  By, oh I don’t know, say, adding murder to your list of charges.  If that’s your master plan, then hell!  Be my guest.”

Barber’s grin worries me. He doesn’t look the least bit concerned.  “And what, exactly, will these charges be?  There are no drugs here.  You have no proof, no evidence that we’ve done anything wrong.  Travis here could point a finger at Chaps, but he’ll be dead before his sister’s body hits the ground. So what’s your play then?  You must know something I don’t know, because we’re clean, five-oh.”  He takes a step toward me, his eyes flashing.  At last I see some emotion other than smug satisfaction–anger.  “We’re clean.”

All I can do is bluff some more, buy time until I can figure out how the hell to get us out of here.  I smile, big enough and long enough for him to take notice and narrow his eyes on me.  “If that’s what you think, maybe I overestimated you. We’ll see.  But I can tell you what won’t be happening. I sure as hell ain’t gonna stand here and show my hand.  If that’s what you’re getting at, then you’re a dumbass.  No matter what happens to me or them, you’re goin’ down, cocksucker.”

Barber watches me silently, debating whether to off us and take his chances or try to find out what I really know, what we really know.

“You’d risk their lives for a bust?”

“Look, man, I don’t give a shit what you do with me, but I won’t lie. I’m in deep with those two.  It’s gonna be sweet to watch you get what’s coming to you.  But so help me God, if you are stupid enough to lay a hand on either of them, you’ll wish I’d killed you instead.  I promise you that.”  I let my words, the weight and the sincerity of them sink in before I continue.  “You’re going down either way.  How far down you go is entirely up to you.”

“How important is she to you?” Barber asks, nodding faintly toward Tommi.

I narrow my eyes on him.  “Very.  But I think I’ve made that pretty clear.”

“You have.  But I think you’ve forgotten that we can make her suffer without ever laying a hand on her.”

“Is that right?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.  “Do tell.”

“Lance has a certain dead brother’s body on deep freeze.  Even if she were allowed to live, she’d spend her life in prison, mourning not one brother but two. She’ll never be free unless he allows her to be free.  Stupid bitch didn’t know who she was fuc–”

I interrupt with a scoff.  “Aw hell!  You think she’s worried about that? I know the whole story.  She won’t go down for that.  And believe me, I would know.  Cop, remember? If anybody knows the law, it’s me.  In fact, if she’d told me sooner, I could’ve helped her get away long before now.  She just had to trust me.” I turn my eyes to Tommi at the last, meeting her heartbroken eyes with the strength and steadiness of my own. She looks away.  But not before I see the betrayal, the hurt, the distrust she’s still holding.  Ties my stomach into a damn knot.

This isn’t how it was supposed to go.

“Oh, I can pretty much guarantee she’ll never trust you again, cop.  For what’s left of your life, that is.”

Barber straightens and takes a gun out of the back of his pants.  He jacks one in the chamber and levels the barrel of the Glock at me.  We’re down to brass tacks now.  He’s made up his mind. He’s calling my bluff.  And something’s gotta give. I’ve got one chance to save Tommi, to save us all.  It’s balls out and go big or go the hell home.  

I start walking toward Barber, arms outstretched, every bit of bravado I can muster playing from my fingertips.  “It’s go time, big man. Bring that shit on!  With my last breath, I’ll be laughing, thinking about you taking it up the ass in a cell next to Tonin’s for the next twenty-five to life.”

His lips thin and the only sign I see of his indecision is in the faint tremor of his hand.  But it’s enough.  I’ve got him worried.  And that’s all the opening I need.

I move no faster, just keep pushing my cockiness to keep him off kilter.  “What’s it gonna be?  Don’t have all day,” I say.

Barber stiffens his arm, like he’s trying to find the resolution to just do this and trust in his instincts rather than letting my words get in his head. I take the half-second opening while he wavers and I make my move.

Ducking, I throw my body at Barber’s middle.  I hear the weapon discharge and I reach up blindly for his gun hand, grabbing it and jerking toward the ground as hard as I can.  I feel the cool metal of the grip against the outside of my last finger just as we topple over the table and go skittering across the slick concrete floor.

Moving as quickly as I can, I throw all my weight onto Barber’s chest, pinning one arm with my knee while I twist his hand to at least aim the gun at the other side of the building, away from any human targets.  The instant he’s subdued, I blast my elbow into his face.  Almost as an extension of the motion that brings me back around, I yank the gun from my waistband and turn to level it at Chaps, who’s still scrambling to get his own pistol out and aimed.  He hasn’t quite made the arc all the way to Tommi when I pull back on the hammer of my revolver.  The muted click echoes through the room like the warning shot of a cannon.  He stops dead.

“Don’t do it, Chaps.  I’ll drop you where you stand.”

His eyes are wide and a fine sheen of sweat is dotting his brow. I see the indecisiveness on his face.  I meet it with the sheer gravity of my words.  “Don’t believe me? Try it.  Try it, you son of a bitch.  I will kill you if you point that thing at Tommi.  I will end your life if you so much as whisper a threat against her.  You don’t deserve to live and I’d thank holy God for the chance to send your ass straight to hell.”